Steelhead angling usually action packed

The big lake-run rainbow trout begin to show up at the mouths of major rivers early in March and as soon as the ice melts enough to permit fishing, the anglers gang up there as well.

The silvery fish will remain in the river mouth areas until sometime late in April when they will move up the streams - if they can - and head for that spawning gravel. This is the one time of the year when the big trout are easily accessible to anglers and many Northwest Michigan anglers take advantage of the season.

While catching steelhead in the summer calls for rather specialized equipment, this spring fishing can be done with more-or-less ordinary tackle. You don't need a big boat, downriggers or fancy electronics. You will, however, need a couple of longish rods, a big net and a lot of patience.

Every major river in the area will attract steelhead in the spring and even some of the smaller streams will hold some fish. Generally, the streams with the greatest flow will attract the most fish and the day-to-day changes in the flow will have a great deal to do with the movement of the fish. When the ice is gone from the river mouth area and the spring rains, combined with the snow melt, make for a strong flow, the fishing will be at a peak.

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The standard technique for this fishing is to offer some sort of bait in holding areas near the river mouth. The best spots are typically not in the main flow, but just off to the side where there is deep water and not a torrential current. If there is some sort of bottom structure that breaks up the flow, that will often create a holding area just downstream from that structure. Those holding areas will produce day after day and year after year, or until they are altered by some force of man or nature.

The best bait for spring steelhead is usually fresh steelhead spawn. Until they can get their hands on some of that, most anglers fish with spawn left over from last year, carefully preserved and treated or with commercial salmon eggs tied up in spawn bags.

Most anglers tie their own spawn bags, making them up with squares of colored mesh material, tied with elastic thread and adding some plastic floaters to make the bags just buoyant.

The object is to have the spawn bag float just off the bottom, where it will be visible and accessible to the fish. If it sits on the bottom, it will be lost in the flotsam or eaten by a sucker, if anything.

The terminal tackle for fishing a spawn bag is a slip sinker rig. A small egg-holder hook is usually employed and it is tied to a short leader, perhaps a foot long. The length of the leader determines how high the spawn bag will float up off the bottom and part of that equation, of course, is the strength of the current. The leader is joined to the line at a swivel and sliding sinker is slipped on the line above the swivel.

It is a good idea to position a bead between the sinker and the swivel to prevent the sinker from jamming on the swivel. Most anglers eventually learn to use rather stout line.

Steelhead are not particularly line shy and there are a lot of hazards around the river mouth areas in the form of rocks, logs, and all sorts of debris. If more distance in casting is required, it would generally be better to use a second sinker or a larger sinker, rather than light line. Line in the 8-pound area would generally cast well and provide sufficient strength to land a good fish.

Other baits will also produce. Wigglers, offered on a leadhead jig and floated under a bobber, will take spring steelhead and wigglers can also be fished on the same sliding sinker rig used for spawn bags, substituting a floating jig head for the hook. On occasion, the wigglers can be even more productive that spawn bags, especially if the fishing situation permits the angler to float the bobber rig down through the holding water.

In most river mouth situations, however, there are too many anglers competing for limited space to use a bobber rig at all. Some fish are also taken by casting small, heavy spoons and, once the fish have spawned and are moving toward the big lake again, they will take nightcrawlers.

Long spinning rods are generally preferred for this fishing and, while you can catch them just fine on a 7-foot rod, some anglers use rods that are 9-10 feet long, using the extra length to tire the fish and to attempt to hold the fish away from docks and snags.

A good reel and lots of line are a requirement. These fish will average more than six pounds and many fish will go upwards of 10 pounds. Make sure your big net has a handle long enough to scoop up a fish from the dock or wherever you are fishing.

The male fish often show up first, with the smaller, brighter females coming into the area later. Fish that are planted at the river mouth are expected to return to the area but fish that are planted in the open lakes know no home stream. Fish that stem from natural reproduction are expected to return to their home streams. While steelhead are capable of spawning and returning to the big lakes to spawn again, many fail to survive the rigors of spawning.

For many Michigan anglers, the spawning spring steelhead are the largest and finest fish they ever encounter and they rejoice in this rather special fishing experience. The fish will jump, run and really carry on when they feel that hook and the line pressure.

To capture one fairly is a fine fishing achievement. They are also great table fare and especially good on the grill, basted with a little lemon-butter sauce.